It seems to me that Hollywood Park juvenile, Con Juan, may end up becoming a better sprinter than his elder full brother Con Quixote. But he needs a little time to mature and let him blossom as an ENTIRE HORSE. These horses sired by R.C. almost always possess nice characters and beautiful intelligence. He looks like a potential horse with stakes sprinting talent but he needs not to be rushed. He makes me remember the case of Long Gone Con, but on this one...(sigh).....an error occurred!

Con Juan was close to the pace at the stretch but faded in his initial effort. But his breezings are good. Remember that his full brother was not particularly precocious but ended becoming a stakes winner. Time will tell. Thanks again.

Hope he achieves more than his stakes winning full brother, the gelding, Con Quixote. I remember quite well Con Quixote's career and right now, at this stage, Con Juan is delivering better than his elder full brother. But there is a very important factor to be aware with these sons of Restless Con: they tend to be tall late blossoming horses with very beautiful characters and outstanding intelligence. But this one seems more precocious than his older brother. This may sound too optimistic but when the Restless Cons peak they become quite respectable speedy horses. Don't forget that the sprinting genes of former world record holder NATIVE DANCER (6-1/2 furlongs in 1:14 flat) and scintillating speedster WALLET LIFTER (also a record holder) are there. WALLET LIFTER represents one of California's best tradition speed horses. Hey what a great horse that FERDINAND was too. Con Juan's second dame was a very sound mare. Don't forget the presence of the awesome dame of Restless Native. It's so sad that so many sons of Restless Con son were prevented from becoming sires, especially the good miler Long Gone Con. But just give liberal time to Con Juan and you will see if he is capable of becoming part of the field in the BC Sprint. Just give him enough time and don't rush him.

Forgot to mention that he was foaled on February 27, 2004, which means that strictly speaking from a calendar perspective, this youngster is still a very green sophomore. I also suspect that he is a sabino carrier. Just look at his white-marked legs; a little atypical for a gray!

A collaborating friend just wrote to me additional good news on Con Juan. In response I wrote a few additional comments on Con Juan's gray-tail-male lineage which I think would like to share with all of you:

My message to him is that Con Juan represents the last surviving gray-tail-male lineage from the great Native Dancer. As you most probably know, several of his best talented gray sons went to stud such as Native Charger, Dancer's Image, Banderilla, Gaelic Dancer, Dancing Dervish, Jig Time, Moving Target, Mito, Natidan, and Restless Native, just to mention a few. From all these names only a handful names managed to uphold the "Gray Ghost's" gray color via his tail-male lineage. These were Native Charger, Dancer's Image, Jig Time and Restless Native. The last gray sire from Native Charger was Chargingthrough and vanished. The last from Dancer's Image disappeared in France and Japan in the late 80's. The case of Jig Time has an asterisk because his gray descendant Pistols and Roses has several gray ancestors mixed with the gonads of The Dancer. The only surviving case is Restless Native (1960), who at the end of his breeding career at 27 got from an 18 year old mare (Filouette) one last good achiever in the Group-1 winner, Restless Con (Haskell Invitational). Restless Con is also the world record holder among grays for the distance of 8-1/2 furlongs (dirt) when he lead all the fractionals and clicked 1:39-3/5 at Golden Gate.

If you examine Restless Con's sire table you will notice that he was a good stallion even siring a millionaire (Echo Eddie), a near $500,000 achiever (Mike K) and several scintillating speedsters who always clicked extraordinary times at the track. Unfortunately, he ended up in the State where many horses are gelded unnecessarily (Best Pal) and practically all his sons have been gelded.

I don't want to extend my arguments too much but I feel that Con Juan has a good chance of becoming a good stakes winner, just as his full brother Con Quixote. Since it is a fact that practically all of Restless Con's sons (and daughters) are speedy late bloomers. I really think that given a proper time he may even be part of the field of a BC Sprint as a 4 or 5 year-old horse. In fact, his full brother raced as a 7-year-old.

I have been following this horse since he was originally thought to be a "chestnut" instead of a "gray". In my view he and his gray-tail lineage deserves a liberal chance of proving himself. By the way, a couple of witness who saw the race, expressed to me that they were hopeful with his performance.

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